Guest Review: The Prince's Groom - KT Grant

Genre: M/M romance, historical
Pages: 175
Published: November 2010
Review by Lis

Mr. Martin, the former first mate of an infamous pirate captain is mourning the loss of his young lover. He and Thomas de Fleurre, an exiled prince turned gentleman landowner, had a passionate affair on a tropical island paradise for a very short time. Thomas decides to end their relationship since Martin is a wanted man on the run for a twenty-year-old crime he didn’t commit.

Thomas longs for the frank speaking Martin, who not only ravaged his body, but his heart and soul. He has moved on, finding happiness in the arms of another man, but can’t stop thinking about those hot steamy nights where Martin made his every fantasy become a reality.

Martin’s past comes back to haunt him as he arrives on Thomas’s doorstep to finish what they started. And then Martin puts his life on the line to save Thomas from an unstable woman who is obsessed with claiming Thomas as her own.

With a dangerous highwayman also terrorizing the land who has close ties to Martin, Thomas becomes a target in a deadly game of cat and mouse. It’s up to Martin to save Thomas and hope they can sail away on their tide of passion, where he will end up being the Prince’s groom.

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Ahoy, ye merry mateys! Aye it this time again. Time for a swashbucklin' about pirates, wenches and gentlemen. I'm talking about K.T. Grant's book The Prince's Groom. After reading The Claiming of Suzy I was a wee bit hesitant, but shiver me timbers, this book surprised me.

When I started this book, which is about Martin and Thomas – or Thom as Martin also calls him – there was the feeling that something was missing. It started right in the middle of the wedding of Thomas' sister Daisy and the characters already knew each other. I was a wee bit disappointed, because I dislike those stories that just start right in the middle of something, assuming we know what in the seven seas is going on.

Turns out that The Prince's Groom is a sequel/continuation of the Daisy's story The Princess' Bride. So while I was a bit disappointed that I missed how Martin and Thom got together and the general first part of the story, I soon got with the program and got into the story. While I missed bits and pieces of Thom and Martin and their histories, it didn't stop me from liking this story.

Martin is a man of secrets and Thom is a stubborn git. While passion flies, communication between the men is missing and that doesn't bode well. Indeed Thom takes off for his own parts while Martin can't follow because he's a wanted man and because he let Thom go. Gah. Men. Always refusing to talk.

Fast forward a year and Thom is getting it on with his personal assistant, though his heart is – gna gna gna – not in it. Trouble brews in the form of the bad, scheming and spoiled wench Ramona. She set her beady eyes on Thom and lo and behold, what Ramona wants she gets. No matter the cost or consequences. Trouble also brews in the form a Night Stalker. Luckily, after some time on the high seas, Martin gets his wits about him and goes in search Thom.

What I liked about this story is that Martin and Thom are not your typical characters. They're not stereotypes who have a role to play (while of course they each have their part in the story, it's not a typical role). They're round characters who are stubborn and want to keep themselves from hurt while also being in love with each other. I also liked that Thom got it on with his PA. It shows that he's not a saint and makes his mistakes. Just like Martin wants to keep his past and his first name to himself.

What I didn't like about this story was the lack of world-building. Having not read the previous book, I most likely missed a bit more, but I missed the background on the world around them, the setting, but also the secondary characters. Take for instance Ramona. She is the typical evil bitch of the story, yet you don't get a real insight into the motives – while, and that I liked, she got more page time than most baddies in a story.

I'm glad B. sent this story my way. The Prince's Groom is a sweet, sexy and hot story about two men learning that they can't live apart and that they can make it work together if they want too.

Thank you Lis!

review copy from the author